Walmart has hired Daniel Dunker, chief product officer at Instacart, as executive vice president for artificial intelligence acceleration, product and design. He will join Walmart next month and be based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company also said it is recruiting an AI platforms leader reporting to global chief technology officer Suresh Kumar. The window of opportunity to apply artificial intelligence “is unique,” chief executive Doug McMillon said in a memo to staff Wednesday. “These new roles reflect our ambition to move smarter and faster.” The retail giant has also unveiled plans to introduce a suite of AI-powered “super agents” designed to improve the shopping experience for customers and streamline operations. Walmart is also developing an “Associate” super agent, to be rolled out in the coming months, which will allow workers and corporate staff to do things such as submit an application for parental leave or give store managers immediate information on sales data.
